COMPASSION POINT: Offering what brings you joy to others

Friday

Dec 15, 2017 at 2:02 PM

Read your favorite book to a child. Take a friend to a beloved path in the woods. Play with a lonely dog in a shelter. Bake homemade cookies for the food pantry. Leave your favorite quote for the next commuter. Bring a game to play at the senior center. Carol for unexpecting neighbors.

Sarah Hurley Hingham Journal

Sparkling, glistening, dazzling, dancing. Lights surround us in this dim December month. We flick them on, plug them in, watch them on the television. We light them on our menorahs and advent wreaths. We give toys that flash and jewelry that gleams. We celebrate the darkest day and the promise of returning light.

With all these external splendors, it is easy to forget the most accessible light of all. Our own internal flame.

I spent a spring volunteering in the Child Life department at the Providence Children's Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska. I often used music as a distraction method during a patient's procedure, an approach to bring fun into the room or a manner in which to engage the whole family in an activity.

There was a five-year-old girl on the floor with a very serious heart disorder. She was extremely sick and we all understood she had a limited time left to live. However, it was clear her spirit was still so alive and since it winded her to speak, she just smiled at everyone she saw.

I learned that she loved music and she loved to get out of her room so she could interact with others. I gave her some small hand bells and as I pushed her in a wheelchair around the hallways of the floor, she shook those bells ever so lightly but with such joy. Her smile shone and her eyes sparkled. Not only was she offering music to the other patients, she was sharing a piece of herself. She was sharing her light.

This little girl did indeed pass during my time at the hospital. Her mother, such a gracious woman, was thankful that her daughter was so present and alive for as long as her body would allow. She kept us all focused on the gift of this beautiful life we were able to share. Twenty years later, I still carry this little girl’s light with me.

In this season of giving, I suggest a simpler offering. Your own brightness. With all the brilliant decorations on front steps, in store windows, along streets and in our own homes, perhaps we get blinded to our own internal glow. Find what you love, what brings you joy, what brightens your light - then offer that to others.

Read your favorite book to a child. Take a friend to a beloved path in the woods. Play with a lonely dog in a shelter. Bake homemade cookies for the food pantry. Leave your favorite quote for the next commuter. Bring a game to play at the senior center. Carol for unexpecting neighbors.

Smile and shake some bells.

Like lighting one candle from another, our flame won’t diminish when we share it. It will only multiply. This is the simplest, purest and most generous gift you can give in this season of lighting the darkness. _________________

Hingham resident, Sarah Hurley is the Founder and Director of Compassion Point. “Empowering individuals to use their unique passion in service of others and the world.” www.compassionpoint.org